McCain is going to beg the American public to feel sorry for him and his running mate, because the “liberal media” is being mean and unfair. The GOP, over a number of years, with the help of talk radio, has been able to fuse the word “Liberal” and “media” into one giant stinking turd that has united conservatives and put a leash on journalist.

But the last eight years have been ruled by the GOP, and they got away with everything, with the help of the “liberal media”, including lying a country into war. The whole “liberal media” narrative has been played out. But McCain is going to dig into that well one more time, and is going to make a claim to the American people that the big bad media, once again, is trying to suppress the ideas and thoughts of real Americans like him and smear the All American girl Sarah Palin.

This is a desperate ploy by McCain. GOP voters feel gas prices, inflation, and the cost of war, just like liberals do. Do they really have the energy to try to fight McCain’s and Palin’s fight, when they know deep down they shouldn’t have to? Will there not be the tiniest bit of resentment towards Palin when she gives her speech tonight? After all, GOP voters wouldn’t have to be spending time defending and trying to rally around a VP candidate that was better known, and had more experience. McCain put GOP voters in the position of cheerleading a candidate they haven’t had a chance to get to know, one that seems less and less qualified the more they get to know her.

McCain, by picking a complete unknown, is now spending all his time and energy, trying to introduce and define his running mate to America, finding himself on the defensive, and improvising during a time when he should be in control of his message. Because he chose poorly and hastily, he and Palin and their party are being defined as incompetent, cynical and hypocritical.

The point of a National Convention is to bring constitutes together. But there is no presentation, there is no message, there is no smokescreen, there is no speech, that can change the fact that Palin is not qualified for the job, and that McCain’s pick is completely reckless.

I’ve caught a couple of pundits asking how to pronounce Palin’s name — first Joe Scarborough, and then Rush Limbaugh.

Nobody knows who Sarah Palin is. This her biggest weakness, not the fact that she doesn’t have any experience. If experience were key to a candidate becoming president, (or vice president) then we would not have had eight years of Bill Clinton, who beat a guy who was in WWII, headed the CIA and was vice president and president of the United states. Bush Sr. had loads of experience. Experience up the ass, and it still didn’t matter. Nor would we had gotten eight years of George (AWOL) Jr., who’s idea of leading is delegating everything to Dick Cheney someone else and have them lead.

Obama’S had a few years to build his name up. If a voter isn’t sure about Obama’s policies, he certainly knows the name Obama. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are names voters are familiar with. Voters know McCain, but they don’t know Palin, and they only have a few months to build her name up so the McCain/Palin tandum will mean something to voters. The GOP certainly isn’t going with name recognition with this one, which I’m sure McCain was hoping Lieberman would help him with. It’s going to have to be an all out blitz of Sarah Palin on the talk shows. We’ll see Sarah on “The View” and “Today” and “The Tonight Show” and everyone will be nice to her and blah, blah, blah.

This is a play for the women’s vote, in particular, women that supported Hillary and are still up for grabs. It’s pretty shrewd. On the one hand it undermines McCain’s message about experience, but at the same time, how can Obama say that Palin is too young and inexperienced when he himself is the same age as her and hasn’t been in office that long. I imagine both campaigns won’t make experience an issue.

With the last Rasmussen poll showing that 28% of her [Hillary] voters still won’t vote for Obama, there’s certainly a lot of opportunity there.

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I have to say that as a woman, there is something intuitively appealing about her selection, even though I politically disagree with everything she believes in and would never in a million years vote for her.

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I’m still not quite sure why Obama didn’t try and lock that vote down by overlooking the personal animosity he and Clinton shared and picking her as his running mate, but he didn’t.

Obama has gotten all he’s going to get out of the Clinton’s from the convention, so it’s up to him to find a way to get their vote. Will that huge block of voters, 28% of Hillary supporters on the fence, turn to McCain/Palin? If Jane Hamsher finds the choice appealing, then so do a lot of other women voters.

by BooMan
Thu Aug 21st, 2008 at 12:34:30 PM EST
Call me naive, but I’m surprised at how Rush Limbaugh has dropped all pretext of political correctness and gone for the most overtly racist language I’ve seen in my lifetime in a high profile race.

LIMBAUGH: — you can’t criticize the little black man-child. You just can’t do it, ’cause it’s just not right. It’s not fair. He’s such a victim.

…nobody had the guts to stand up and say no to a black guy.” Limbaugh went on to say: “I think this is a classic illustration here where affirmative action has reared its ugly head against them. It’s the reverse of it. They’ve, ended up nominating and placing at the top of their ticket somebody who’s not qualified, who has not earned it.” Limbaugh added: “It’s perfect affirmative action.

Limbaugh said crap like this before in his short-lived stint at ESPN in 2003.

I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well…. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve.

And then there’s Geraldine Ferraro shilling for Hillary Clinton:

If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position…. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.

The arguments made by Limbaugh and Ferraro are the same. Obama got the nomination, not because he earned it, but because of the color of his skin. He got the nomination, not because he’s qualified, but because of affirmative action mentality and white guilt. Of course when Obama warns his supporters that his opponents will say exactly the kinds of things Limbaugh and Ferraro say, it gets spun as Obama playing the race card.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis: “Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It’s divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.”

Geraldine Ferraro: “I will not be discriminated against because I’m white. If they think they’re going to shut up Geraldine Ferraro with that kind of stuff, they don’t know me.”

Most political junkies believe that the race card was played during the democratic primary and is being played during the general. Who is playing the race card and who is benefiting from it, is where the arguments begin.

Sidebar: BooMan’s post about John McCain’s flying record in the Navy is very interesting. I didn’t know the guy crashed more than once. In fact he crashed four times.

I’m guessing that McCain’s being married to a wealthy heiress, and his not knowing how many homes they own, won’t make a difference to more than a smattering of voters.

Are we lefty’s really this soft? Is it that some of us simply can’t think outside the box?McCain’s gaffe isn’t about homes and wealth, it’s about how he couldn’t answer the question. It’s about memory. It’s about his AGE.

Digby is reporting that McCain is already hitting back against Obama. That was fast. I’m guessing they’re pulling shit out of the hat they had stored up for later, but they are going to try and stop this in its tracks. And for good reason. They know as well as Obama knows, McCain’s comments aren’t about being rich and out of touch, it’s about being OLD and out to lunch.